Voters heading to the polls in recent NSW council elections may have noticed eye-catching MAGA-style messaging. Does it mean US-style culture wars are coming our way?

Peter Ristevski campaigned on the slogan "Make Liverpool Great Again" and an array of Libertarian Party (formerly Liberal Democrat) candidates, including Mark Hornshaw, Victor Tey, and Gaye Cameron, championed an anti-woke agenda.

It has been a constant trend, particularly among conservatives and those on the right to adopt American-style culture wars and talking points for electoral gain, according to William Clapton, Associate Professor in International Relations at UNSW.

“Particularly in the last 15 to 20 years, and maybe even more particularly since the election of Donald Trump [in 2016], you’ve seen a confluence of Trump’s rise and the rise of his brand of conservative nationalist populism,” Clapton said. “The growth of social media use in Western societies, the impacts of the internet … has allowed for even more cross-fertilisation of currents and trends of the United States in smaller Western societies such as Australia.”

'Liverpool is a working-class area, and the working-class people resonate with Trump.'

Liverpool’s "Our Local Community" candidate Peter Ristevski was recently elected to the council of Liverpool’s South Ward. He describes himself as a “straight shooter” with old-school values.

Ristevski appropriates the "Make America Great Again" slogan, first used by both Ronald Reagan in 1980 and more recently by Trump and says he aims to “Put Liverpool First”. He also looks favourably on Trump and sees similarities in their campaigns.

“Personally, I like Trump, I like his messaging, how he’s a straight shooter … he’s pro-business but he’s also pro-worker, that’s our campaign as well,” Ristevski said. “Liverpool is a working-class area, and the working-class people resonate with Trump.”

Despite this, Ristevski claims his campaign slogan, Make Liverpool Great Again, “has got nothing to do with Trump” and came from a “positive point of view”. According to his campaign site, he aims to revitalise Liverpool by fighting overdevelopment, stopping the sell-off of council land to developers, and investing in roads, parks, and street cleaning.

Part of this revitalisation, however, is doing away with what Ristevski sees as Australia’s destructive culture of multiculturalism.

“The reason we haven’t moved on is because everyone panders to minorities,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time the word patriot was used in Australia … I was the only candidate to photograph myself with an Australian flag behind me… America we can learn by. A lot of their households fly the American flag, why can’t we do the same?”

According to 2021 Census data, Liverpool is a notably multicultural suburb, with 48.8 per cent of residents born outside of Australia, including significant migrant populations from Iraq, Vietnam, Fiji, India and Lebanon.

Libertarian Party candidates expressing anti-woke sentiments in their campaigning statements included Sean Masters (The City of Sydney), Vanessa Pollak (Penrith), and Vince Ferreri (Camden). They want “freedom from woke indoctrination” and opposition to “rate-payer-funded drag queen story hour”.

John Ruddick, formerly a member of the Liberal Party and now a representative of the Libertarian Party has been a member of the Legislative Council of NSW since 2023. He describes the Libertarian Party as proudly anti-woke. “We believe wokeness is insidious … the woke left is saying no you’re not allowed to have a debate, and they demonise people,” Ruddick said.

To be "woke" as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary is to be “aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality.” The term originates in African-American culture and was revitalised by neo-soul singer and songwriter Erykah Badu in her 2008 song "Master Teacher".

'How can making sure there’s equal access to healthcare, education, housing, how can that be wokeness?'

Clapton is concerned by the word’s re-appropriation in politics. “It’s been imported to become anything that … predominantly conservative, right-wing or populist politicians don’t like,” he said. “I’ve seen it used to deride everything from feminism and progressive identity politics to people who drive electric vehicles.”

Ruddick is familiar with the power of MAGA slogans, releasing his book Make the Liberal Party Great Again, a call to reform the Liberal Party during his party membership, in 2018. “It was a marketing ploy, and it worked,” he said. “I will sell more books; I will get more attention for this important message if I could give it a sexy title and it worked.”

The ploy of importing American culture war messaging has not gone unnoticed. On social media site Reddit's r/Sydney page, redditor @Gnorris posted: “Sad to see parties importing this US vibe into local council elections.” To Clapton, this comes from a “resentment that we’re importing the worst aspects of United States politics and that is having a destructive influence on Australian society, politics and culture as well”.

Labor’s Dr Betty Green, who ran for Liverpool mayor, was re-elected as a councillor for Liverpool’s South Ward. She shares these frustrations and feels this messaging isn’t relevant to the council’s operations and role in people’s everyday lives.

“It actually detracted from the real issues that Liverpool experiences,” she said. “How can equality be a bad thing? How can making sure that there’s equal access to healthcare, education, housing, how can that be wokeness?”

Green said she had faced proposals in Liverpool council meetings concerning drag queen story hour and book bans. She advocates for diverse representation in books and opposes restricting public access, saying “I’m a councillor, not a censor.”

In the nearby Cumberland shire, councillor Steve Christou proposed a ban on Holly Duhig's book Same-Sex Parents. According to The Guardian, Christou described the book as “really disturbing”.

Green believes the views put forward by Libertarian and conservative politicians are “inviting us to be less tolerant of each other and I don’t think that works for a cohesive society. It’s okay to be different; we’re not all meant to be the same.”

The outcome of this week's US evenly balanced presidential election between Trump and Kamala Harris may have consequences for the evolution of Australia’s political environment. A 2024 Allies and Partners Poll published by the United States Studies Centre, revealed 47 per cent of Australians surveyed think a second Trump presidency would be bad for Australia.

Amidst this uncertainty, Clapton is certain that, irrespective of the result, this US-style conservative populism is here to stay.

“If Trump gets elected, you’ll see a bolstering of those sort of populist forces, you’ll see a renewed emphasis on Trumpian style politics and MAGA style politics,” he said. “If Kamala Harris wins it will probably also bolster these sentiments. It will only increase the sense of grievance and victimisation, and the sense of threat and danger.”

“Either way you go, I think this will continue and it’s going to be with us for some time.”